Strange Facts and Truly Weird Fiction

Kathleen Krull dishes the dirt on What Really Happened in Roswell? Just the Facts (Plus the Rumors) about UFOs and Aliens, illus. by Christopher Santoro. What started all the talk about flying saucers and alien landings in that isolated New Mexico town? Krull presents the different stories that have been told since the first discovery of unusual silver scraps in 1947, ending provocatively, "Is the story over?" (HarperTrophy, $4.25 paper 64p ages 8-up ISBN 0-688-17248-2; June)

Robert D. San Souci pens a collection of fantastic, frightful stories in Dare to Be Scared: Thirteen Stories to Chill and Thrill, illus. by David Ouimet. Selections range from short tales like "Nighttown," in which a boy's vacation in the Caribbean goes horribly awry, to longer entries like "Hungry Ghosts," in which a restless spirit swallows a boy's soul. All provide a suspenseful atmosphere and plenty of dark doings, complemented by Ouimet's eerie b&w artwork. (Cricket, $15.95 168p ages 8-12 ISBN 0-8126-2688-5; June)

Crafty Ideas for Creative Kids

A plethora of projects await in a host of titles. Sewing with Felt: Learn Basic Stitches to Create More Than 60 Colorful Projects by Buff McAllister, photos by Hank Schneider, provides useful instruction as well as inspiration. Beginning with safety tips, supplies needed and descriptions of basic stitches, it quickly proceeds to fun ideas such as "Playful Place Mats," "Bookworm Bookmarks" and "Puppet Pals." The degree of difficulty of each project is clearly indicated, diagrams provide detailed instructions and the colorful photos of finished projects will make readers eager to get started. (Boyds Mills, $19.95 88p ages 7-up ISBN 1-56397-999-3; Sept.)

Rainforests: An Activity Guide for Ages 6-9 by Nancy Castaldo introduces readers to tropical and temperate rain forests around the world. Beginning with the forest from the floor to the canopy, the volume then presents plants, animals and people in Africa, South America, Asia, the Pacific and Caribbean, and the Pacific Northwest. Activities range from making a fern-print T-shirt to planting a butterfly garden to stringing an aloha lei; the closing "Don't Bungle the Jungle" chapter describes ways kids can help save the forests. (Chicago Review [IPG, dist.], $14.95 paper 144p ages 6-9 ISBN 1-55652-476-5; June)

My First Spy Kit by Will Grace, illus. by Scott McBee, assigns readers to a top-secret mission. Ten punch-out cardboard items provide everything the super-spy might need, from a cell phone to a pen-camera to a super spy credit card. A simple story line will see future agents off to a successful start. (Scholastic/Cartwheel, $9.95 12p ages 3-up ISBN 0-439-46873-6; July)

Little princesses may enjoy playing with Disney's Princess Theater, a shrink-wrapped paper-over-board package that unfolds into a stage with background scenery from Disney's animated films Aladdin, Cinderella and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. A smaller interior package contains punch-out cardboard characters such as the blue genie and Rajah the tiger from Aladdin, and a booklet condenses each story into its bare bones using a mixture of dialogue and plot summary. (Disney Press, $19.99 48p ages 4-8 ISBN 0-7868-3433-1; June)

The Super Duper Activity Book by Lynn Gordon, illus. by Karen Johnson and Susan Synarski, combines a multitude of games and activities originally published in the popular 52 Decks series in one spiral-bound book. More than 120 ways to maximize fun using simple household materials are included. From "Awesome Art Projects" to "Terrific Travel Activities," kids can keep busy creating shadow puppets and even their own language. (Chronicle, $12.95 112p ages 5-up ISBN 0-8118-3702-5; July)

All A-Board!

Picture book favorites return in a board book format just right for smallest hands. A lazy farmer presides over the wacky doings of Cows in the Kitchen by June Crebbin, illus. by Katharine McEwen, set to the rhythms of "Skip to My Lou." The animals invade the house while the farmer dozes in the haystack. "The merriment of this mischievous book is contagious," wrote PW. (Candlewick, $6.99 24p ages 2-5 ISBN 0-7636-2129-3; Aug)

A counting book set on a farm, Let's Go Visiting by Sue Williams, illus. by Julie Vivas, tracks an energetic child cavorting with a variety of animals in a repetitive rhyming text ("Let's go visiting. What do you say? One brown foal is ready to play"). "Two red calves," "three black kittens" and finally "six yellow puppies" join the fray until, exhausted, everyone hits the hay. Vivas's vivacious images add pep to a text tailored for reading out loud. (Harcourt/Red Wagon, $5.95 30p ages 2-5 ISBN 0-15-204638-0; June)

Sleepy toddlers may be encouraged to turn in with the help of the photographic Sleepy Cat and Sleepy Dog by Frances Gilbert. With one word matching an appropriate photo of a snoozing feline, Cat begins with "tired" and ends with "good night!" Dog begins with "drowsy" and ends with "dream." (Sterling, $4.95 each 14p ages 2-5 ISBN 1-4027-0575-1; -0576-X; June)

Based on the bestselling books by Hans de Beer, the Little Polar Bear series adds Just Like Father! When Lars spends the day with his father, he copies everything Dad does, wishing to be just like his father when he grows up. (North-South/Night Sky, $3.99 20p ages 2-5 ISBN 1-59014-075-3; June)

Fans of the TV series can see more of Oswald the octopus and his dachshund, Weenie, in two lift-the-flap books. In The Big Surprise, by J-P Chanda, illus. by Dan Kanemoto, the two pass their friends, hidden under the flaps, who are all in a big hurry and carrying suggestive items like cupcakes and flowers (they are all headed to a surprise party for Weenie). In Where's Weenie? by Annie Evans, illus. by Piero Piluso, it's the day of the big parade and Oswald can't find Weenie anywhere. She's not in the closet or the picnic basket, but she appears at the end, triumphantly atop the parade float. (Simon Spotlight, $5.99 each 14p ages 1-3 ISBN 0-689-85411-0; 85412-9; July)